Have you been paying attention to the recent direction of mortgage interest rates? They are moving lower! This is great news if you’re a first-time home buyer, shopping for a new home or interested in refinancing your existing mortgage balance. We were contacted today by a local banker, and she shared the following conventional mortgage rates with us.
· 30 year fixed rate is 3.375% with 0 points
· 15 year fixed rate is 2.75% with 0 points
On June 20 the U.S. Federal Reserve extended “Operation Twist” through the end of 2012. With this program the central bank is selling an additional $267 billion of shorter-term treasury securities to buy the same amount of longer-term bonds in a bid to reduce borrowing costs and help spur the economy. The recent drop in mortgage rates can be attributed to this program, so the Fed has accomplished one of their goals. Now we'll have to see if overall economic activity improves further.
